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Here are some fast imagineering facts for you:
* The corridor scene uses an old theatre trick called "Pepper's Ghost" where an image is projected using a mirror onto a scrim (a thin, translucent screen) to make the image look as though it's right in front of you when it's actually off to the side.
* The ride vehicles were designed with the help of a major elevator manufacturer.
* Disney Imagineers have calculated that if both towers were to drop at the same time that Rock'n Roller Coaster launched it would bring down the Studio's power grid. This is prevented because the Imagineering department decided to build a power sub-station that services just this section of the park.
* The Mah Jongg game in the lobby was actually played by two championship players for one hour. Then they just stood up and walked away. This way nobody who knew the game could say the setup had been fudged.
* Although this is a commonly known fact the elevators don't freefall, they are actually pulled downward faster than the acceleration of gravity (which happens to be 9.8 meters/second/second... I'm a physics nerd (and engineering major), I can't help it.).
* There are four loading areas with each area having its own elevator shaft. The two pairs merge into two drop towers at the fifth dimension level of the hotel.
* The four load towers are named (from right to left [I think right to left]) Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Delta.
* The two drop towers are named (right to left [again, I think right to left]) Echo and Foxtrot.
* There is a dummy room near the top of the hotel. At night you can see a light in the window where there looks like there is a room. It's really just a light but no real room.
* The drop sequence has the ability to be totally randomized with every ride. That is, one ride you may drop, hold, go up, and drop and on the next ride you may hold, go up, drop, hold and drop, or something to that effect. It is expected that this randomized drop program will be implemented by September of 2001.
[update: cast members at the ToT in June 2001 were unaware of any changes coming their way, so who knows?]
[update: September has came, and went with no sign of the new random program. Rumors now say that during or after the 100 Years of Magic celebration may be the time for the new sequence]
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